Pain and Stiffness 6 months out from TKR

I am wanting to stay inflammation....I recently had to take a Prednisone countdown due to hurting my back and it was excruciating. About day 3 into the Prednisone countdown my leg starting feeling so much better, Knee soreness and stiffness was better, I can get up and down to of a chair with no issues at all and it doesn't hurt. I want to feel this way all the time. I actually had issues with this before the surgery and feel it's muscular. I am at 7 months and still have soreness and stiffness if I do to much as well. Hopefully by a year it resolves itself as they say it can take a year to heal.

I'm nine months past TKR and I had lots of difficulty with stairs so I tackled the problem three ways. First, and perhaps most important, I lost weight. There is a multiple I've read that claims for every lb of weight u lose the reduction in impact to the knee is 6-7lb. I was amazed how much easier stairs were with as little as 3 lbs lost. Second, I eliminated the consumption of any food that exacerbates inflammation. The internet is rife with ideas. Third, weight training. When I go up or down stairs, both hands are on the rails making the most of the gym exercises which built my calf muscles, hand strength and arm strength. In essence, other parts are used to assist the TKR knee and don't forget about the non TKR knee. Build it as well.

I regret my TKR surgery every single day, but regret only lead me to anger and depression. Basically, I had to figure a solution and then find the determination to stick with it. For the record, I recently climbed 3 floors using the stairs, non stop, hands holding the rails and calves doing most of the work. My HCM caused me to become winded at the top, but I climbed those stairs and believe I can do it again and again. My knee was definitely inflamed but it calmed overnite.

Hope this helps.

Good for you and your efforts. I too am a firm believer in wgt loss. Overweight individuals can have great difficulty during recovery with the extra weight bearing down on their knees. The implant doesn’t last as long either when it is getting crushed on by extra weight.
I was able to lose 20 lbs thru exercise but more importantly restricting my food intake to between the hours of 10:00 am and 8 pm. In between I ate what I wanted.

I am not overweight so I don't think that is the issue. I have been able to walk alot and I don't have issues with that. Because I live on second floor with a dog, and I also have stairs at work I probably do over 200 stairs a day. I'm wondering if its just to much.

Stairs are not kind to knees. After my surgery, stairs were the last thing I could do without any pain. Please take it easy. Look into a brace?

Pain standing up and then receding is not unusual. Pain on stairs should resolve after a few months.

When I walk stairs, my stronger/newly developed arms, hands, calves and non TKR knee work in unison to lift my 170lbs, 5'10" frame up the stairs. It's a team effort. When I was 165lbs, it was even easier so the goal is 165. The "means" is Planet Fitness 3-4x per week and exercise every other day. My knees don't lift me, my calves do most of the work. My feet are never flat foot on the steps, my calves are constantly working to lift me. There is no easy way, but my life is worth living (despite the pain) after I refused to capitulate to pain and the dysfunction the TKR caused.

If you are not still in PT I would recommend if all is fine with X-ray on your implant. A good physical therapist can help. Just had my 2 yr TKR anniversary and still do exercises to include stretching, squats, endurance exercises, stationary bike and weights on ankles and will keep going til I can’t. Also do deep water aerobics. Tell therapist what is difficult for you a good one can help. Also til your better go upstairs with the good leg first down with the bad first. Use ice or heat whichever is helpful. Therapists should know when they can’t help and will send you back to surgeon. Best of luck.

So you do stairs on tip toe? Interesting.

I am 6 months post TKR today but still not happy with results. Yes I can walk about 1 mile a day but have constant pain on outside of my knee. Worse when walking down stairs feels like pulling stabbing pain so I tend to walk one step at a time instead of foot over foot. Also burning pain above knee. I have done Physio up until a month ago but am still doing daily excercises . I really thought at 6 months I would not have constant pain. Still taking OTC pain meds. My surgeon told me at 3 months everything was okay with X-ray so not sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.